No apologies from Perry to Fed Chairman

Chris Cillizza:

Twelve hours removed from a controversy about his suggestion that Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke was engaging in “treasonous” behavior Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s presidential campaign didn’t try to walk back the remark. In fact, they doubled down on it.

“I am passionate about the issue but I stand by what I said,” Perry told reporters in Iowa today.

Although Perry’s campaign is only a few days old, the episode provides a telling insight into the Texas governor: he is brash, bold and unapologetic about being so.

And that just might make him a perfect fit for the current Republican primary electorate who is mad as hell and not going to take it anymore.

A look back across Perry’s rhetorical history suggests that this latest controversy is nothing new.

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Put simply: Rick Perry doesn’t apologize — and it’s worked for him politically.

Now, that strategy working in Texas and it working on the national stage are two different things. But, there is some evidence that Perry’s strategy could be successful again in the context of a Republican presidential primary.

As we’ve written before, the Republican primary electorate wants a candidate who prosecutes the case against President Obama and his policies in the most confrontational way possible.

Given that, they are drawn to candidates who make statements that the media, Democrats and even some within the GOP establishment deem as controversial. (What else could explain the rapid rise of businessman Donald Trump in hypothetical 2012 polling earlier this year.)

Perry is positioning himself as the guy who says what he means and means what he says. The guy who won’t back down in the face of controversy. The guy who believes deeply enough in conservative principles to not apologize for them.

Whether intentionally or not — and we are guessing it is intentional — Perry is drawing a clear contrast with former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney who is still trying to shed the reputation, acquired in the 2008 campaign, of flip-flopping on issues critical to conservatives. (Ironically enough, the title of Romney’s campaign-themed book is “No Apology”.)

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The reaction of certain people in the GOP and outside only strengthens Perry's support from the passionate people who will vote in the caucuses and primaries. Cillizza questions whether it will appeal to general election voters, but with the way Obama's numbers are falling there will apparently be a majority willing to vote against him and his policies.

It should also be noted that Perry had a larger point that goes beyond some personal attack. He is concerned about the devaluation of US currency by Fed action. That is one of the factors in driving up the cost of oil that Texas has benefited from, so it seems like a pretty selfless act on Perry's part to challenge the action.